


walking in the wind

by orphan_account



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Dates, Getting Together, M/M, Sex Mentions, Slice of Life, Switching, but like extremely mild, filmmaker!ryan, some mild angst if you squint, teacher!shane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 04:18:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14012022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: in which Shane and Ryan go on a hundred dates and fall in love along the way.





	walking in the wind

**Author's Note:**

> alternate title: the fic based on [this gifset](https://summonedwheezes.tumblr.com/post/171970156591/spooksandwheezes-first-date-vs-one-hundredth) that nobody asked for

**first date**

Ryan sighs nervously. He’d gotten there first, always criminally early, and the loud chatter in the bar around him makes him feel dizzy. It’s a nice place to drink at, with warm walls and fairy lights and thoughtful staff.

His head stops feeling like it’s spinning at a hundred miles an hour when his date walks over to him. Fuck, he’s even hotter in person, he’d thought then.

“Before you say anything, let me stop you there: despite how aloof my face makes me look, I’m aware that I’m tall,” Shane says as he sits down across the table for two where Ryan’s already nursing a beer.

Ryan tries to think of a witty comeback for a second, but he just laughs. They talk until last call about five hundred different topics at the very least.

______________

**date number three**

Their third date is kind of a disaster; the day they chose to take advantage of their unlimited Disneyland passes just so happens to be the one day out of the month where it rains in California. It’s heavy, can’t-just-put-on-your-hood-and-hope-for-the-best rain, and they take refuge inside a busy restaurant to see if they can wait out the worst of it.

Surrounded by the sound of squeaky shoes and unfolding rain ponchos, Shane curses the weather. He’d planned to take Ryan to one of his favourite hidden spots in the park and kiss him for the first time there, but it’s evident that isn’t going to happen as he checks his phone for weather news.

“This sucks,” Ryan says from across from him, and even soaked with rain, he’s still cute, and it sort of catches Shane off-guard.

“Yeah, not the most romantic day out.”

“I know what we could do,” Ryan smiles, “how about we go back to my place or your place and watch a movie? Unless you want to go just go home and do this another day.”

“Hey,” Shane offers, tentatively putting his hand over his on the table, “I’d love that.”

It takes them a little longer than it should to get up and leave and neither of them complains about it. Back at Ryan’s apartment, they eat warm popcorn and have hot chocolate while the rain pours outside. Shane doesn’t kiss him yet, but they hold hands on the couch, so that’s a win.

______________

**date number four**

Before he leaves for their fourth date, Ryan pulls up his phone and anxiously texts his friend Jen. She’d been the one who set them up a few weeks ago, telling Ryan about this friend of hers who loves films as much as Ryan does.

[5:30 PM]: _Jen I don’t know what to wear_

[5:33 PM]: **you’ve been on three dates before this, I don’t think it matters what you wear at this point**

[5:33 PM]: **but since you’re going to a show, I’d say wear jeans and a t-shirt**

[5:35 PM]: _very casual and simple, I like it_

[5:35 PM]: _hey Jen, thanks_

[5:38 PM]: **no problem, amigo**

[5:38 PM]: **remember I’m your best man if you end up marrying this idiot**

Shane shows up in front of Ryan’s apartment building at six thirty sharp wearing darker denim and a black t-shirt, and Ryan thinks he has no right to look this good right now.

By the time the show ends, Shane can’t take it anymore; seeing Ryan get all sweaty and worked up in the dimmed stage lights is something he wants more of. He’s not sure if Ryan will invite him up after he walks him home, but he does, and Shane thanks him by pressing him to the apartment front door he just closed behind him and pressing their lips together.

It starts off chaste enough with a slow kiss but it turns filthy the second Ryan opens his mouth and sneaks two hands under Shane’s t-shirt on either side of his hips; he gets a bite on his bottom lip in response.

When they break apart, Shane looks down at him, almost panting. “You wanna do this tonight or just make out?”

“Fuck yeah, I want to do this,” Ryan answers before he pulls him in again.

They stumble backwards on Ryan’s bed, and as Shane watches the way he gets all worked up through half-hooded lids as he gives him head, bobbing up and down and holding Ryan’s hips into place. The instant Ryan grabs a fistful of his hair and starts to thrust into his mouth, he knows they’ll be very compatible in bed.

______________

**date number five**

When he wakes up on a Saturday morning, pressed against Shane’s side, Ryan feels content. He can feel a dull ache in his legs from being on his feet at the show last night, and when he looks down, there’s a couple of wine-coloured marks on his chest; _this is good_ , he thinks.

They have breakfast in bed and Ryan returns Shane’s attention from the night before in the shower.

______________

**date number ten**

By now, most people would probably already be in a steady relationship, but they’re not most people. Shane has been working extra hours at the school he works at to help tutor some of his students in history with finals coming up, and Ryan would mind if it wasn’t so sweet.

One day, though, he grows tired of missing this tall idiot he doesn’t get to call his boyfriend yet, and he takes matters into his own hands. Shane’s mouth forms a perfect “O” as he spots him standing outside the museum he just took his class to.

“Surprise,” Ryan beams, hands in his pockets. “You told me this was the last period of the day, so.”

Shane blushes. He told Ryan that last week when they were having brunch in the sun somewhere, in passing, and the fact he remembered that makes him all warm inside.

“Where are you taking me?” he asks like a teenager. He’s still in his work clothes, slacks and buttoned up shirt, but he doesn’t care.

“I was thinking maybe you could tell me about your favourite piece of art in there,” Ryan gestures to the museum.

They hold hands while walking through the rooms before they reach his favourite painting, and Ryan notices he could listen him talk about literally anything and still drink the words out of his mouth like water in a desert.

Later, as they sit on a museum bench with Shane’s arm around Ryan’s shoulder, Ryan glances around the near-empty room and thinks, this is the right moment.

He clears his throat before speaking, and he’s rehearsed this in his head, so surely it’ll be okay. “I know you’ve been busy, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you every day we were apart. I wanted to ask you if you wanted to make it official, but if you need more time where we just hang out, I’m fine with that.”

Shane lets out a happy sigh. “I’d like that.”

He decides he wants their first kiss as boyfriends to be straight out of a rom-com, so he kisses Ryan right there and then on the bench. It’s been four months since he dubiously went to a bar on a Thursday night on Jen’s advice, and he’s truly happy, even if the bags under his eyes could carry the both of them right now.

______________

**date number twenty-three**

They’ve officially been in a relationship for ten months when they go to their first fancy restaurant as a couple; Shane teaches the chef’s daughter at school and asked him for a favour at the last parents-teachers meeting.

It’s an Italian restaurant, and Ryan has no idea if the wine the host picked out for them is good or not but they order a bottle of it anyway; Shane’s wearing a casual yet dressed up suit, and that’s all he can really focus on.

“I’m so proud of you,” Shane tells him as he links their fingers on the table, and Ryan has flashbacks to the first time he did this on their failed Disneyland date.

“I couldn’t have gotten this job without you, really.”

Part of him knows that’s not true, but it sure as hell feels like it is; Shane had supported him through sleepless nights filled with working on his showreel, brought him coffee at three in the morning before going back to bed, and most importantly bent him over his desk to calm his nerves after he’d sent that application to work at a prestigious film editing company.

They leave the restaurant slightly wine drunk, sharing sloppy kisses as they cross the threshold into the bedroom. Ryan looks into Shane’s eyes with a tender look as he slowly thrusts in and out of him, and the moans slipping out of Shane’s mouth when he brings him closer to his release taste like the sweetest wine he’s ever had.

______________

**date number forty-seven**

“God, I missed you so fucking much,” Ryan breathes into Shane’s chest as he gets him from the airport.

“I know. I’m here.”

They walk to Ryan’s car in the parking lot, and on the drive to his apartment, he looks over at Shane every chance he gets when they’re at a red light like if he looks away too long he won’t be there next to him.

It’s been a hard few months. Shane came back from work one day looking out of sorts, and it turned out he’d been offered a place to teach disadvantaged kids in Chicago for six months; close to his hometown, but far away from his new home. Telling Ryan had been the hardest part of all this: watching his face completely fall as Shane said the word “Chicago” felt like his whole world was crumbling there and then.

Now, at the halfway point where Shane’s home for two weeks over Spring Break, he’s tired. The novelty of living within an hour of his parents has worn off, and the kids are all absolute stars, but Chicago makes him feel like he’ll never be warm again when he comes home to an empty bed every night.

He can sense Ryan’s exhausted too, and he knows he’s been burying himself in work to distract himself from the absence, but he doesn’t mention it; maybe if they ignore that he has to go back in just fourteen days, time will slow down somehow.

On Shane’s first day back, he’s too tired for anything other than takeout and Netflix, and Ryan falls asleep curled up against his lap on the couch halfway through the movie. Being domestic again makes the warmth return.

______________

**date number fifty-one**

Ryan flies alone for the first time in god knows how long and he feels jittery the whole time; he only makes it half an hour through the flight before he caves and pays for plane wifi so he can open iMessage.

[1:07 PM]: _here I come, big guy_

[1:07 PM]: _I’m messaging you from up in the air, by the way, so you’re technically kinda texting with a UFO_

[1:09 PM]: **you’re an idiot**

[1:09 PM]: **I love you**

He smiles at his screen reading the three little words. He remembers the first time Shane said it, when they were lying in post-intercourse glow on a Sunday afternoon, and how he’d viscerally felt it too.

It’s not the first time he’s met his other half’s parents, but in the drive to Shane’s parents’ house an hour out of Chicago, his nerves get the best of him; maybe because this time he’s come to take their son home. Regardless, they’re absolutely delightful people.

While Shane and his dad are organising his luggage in the trunk of the car the next morning, his mom pulls him aside in the kitchen. “I think he might propose to you soon,” she tells him as she sips her coffee, holding the mug two-handed.

Ryan blushes. It’s not like their relationship is new in any way — they’ve officially been together for two years now— and maybe it’s because they’ve never lived together properly, but he’s overwhelmed by how close the future is.

“Are you checking in to see if I’d say yes?” he asks with a smile pulling at his mouth.

Before she has time to answer, Shane walks back into the house and Ryan can hear his voice sound through the hallway. “We’re ready to roll, baby!”

His mom smiles when he enters the room and gives them both a big hug before they leave, and maybe Shane misses the knowing look she gives Ryan, but he sure doesn’t.

Hours later, they’re back home in bed, and when Ryan says,“let’s look for a place together,” he’s tackled with kisses that spell  _yes yes yes_  on his amber skin.

______________

**date number sixty-eight**

Christening the bed in their new place is a top priority on their list of things to do, and Shane insists on it being done thoroughly. They spend an entire afternoon where they should be unpacking fucking instead. They’ve been back in the same place for a while now, but every touch tells them they still haven’t made up for the months of no touching.

______________

**date number seventy-five**

They go to IKEA and pick out furniture for the spare room in their apartment, where Ryan will have his home office and Shane will keep an enormous amount of books. It’s unspoken, but they look for furniture they can easily move around or dismantle when the time comes to use this room for something else.

______________

**date number eighty-four**

Shane has an Incognito window open in his browser for ideas and spots to maybe go to, and he wonders if Ryan might know, but if he does, he hasn’t mentioned it.

It’s summer now, and school is over but Ryan’s still working even though he looks like he could use a holiday, so Shane surprises him one evening with a reservation for a break from the city in the countryside. They go and see all the houses where people who didn’t want to live in Los Angeles anymore as they got older live, and Shane thinks _this could be nice someday_.

______________

**date number one hundred**

They have their first big fight in a long time in the car, and the whole time they’re arguing, a box is burning a figurative hole in Shane’s pocket.

“Why can’t you just be fucking clear about where you want to go for once! Not everything has to be fucking cryptic!” Ryan’s driving is as sharp as ever but his knuckles are white on the steering wheel, face red-hot in anger.

“I didn’t realise it was cryptic to ask my serious partner to trust me for one fucking drive!” Shane throws his hands up.

“All I know is you’re making me drive into a forest without telling me the destination and it’s freaking me out!”

“Ryan,” he says in his serious voice, calmer now, “pull over. I’ll explain, I promise.”

Ryan shrugs, almost rolling his eyes, and pulls over. All around them is a national park, complete with people hiking. He gets out of his seat and walks out, not even gesturing for Shane to follow him, and goes to sit on the hood of the car.

“Ry,” he starts with a soft, cautious voice, “hear me out. I— I wanted you to take us to the Observatory in the national park, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“Griffiths Observatory? Really?” Ryan’s voice is still defensive but it’s definitely lower, and he’s looking at Shane instead of at the ground now, looking like a deer caught in headlights.

“Yeah. I know you’ve wanted to go for a really long time but we haven’t made the time for it so I thought it’d be a cool surprise. I’m sorry.”

“No, I should apologise. I feel like a fucking dick now.”

“C'mere.”

Ryan does. He buries his face into his partner’s chest, and just like every fight they’ve had so far, it’s followed by a long comfortable silence, except this time they’re on the side of the road surrounded by trees.

At Ryan’s request, they end up in a remote diner to make up over a burger, and it’s on the part of the road where it becomes dirt, which gives a surreal aura, he thinks.

As they sit in the booth drinking their sodas and laughing at each other’s dumb jokes, Shane is struck by the same feeling Ryan had when he first asked him to be his boyfriend; the sentiment that this, right here, is the moment you’ve been looking for this whole time.

Shane notices how Ryan’s hair catches the red neon light and he looks beautiful like this, in the calm after the storm. He gets the small wooden ring box out, and instead of all the little speeches he’d written in his head, he just says “will you marry me?”

In this shitty diner in the middle of the forest, on their one-hundredth date, Ryan says yes.

**Author's Note:**

> I meant for this to be a short drabble and it kind of snowballed. was it any good? let me know!


End file.
